News 12 This Morning, September 10, 2009

AUGUSTA---A groundbreaking new program that wants to put local veterans to work is expected to be open within the next month.

The project is called the Veterans Curation Program. It's a government upstart that will employ about 30 disabled veterans.

Program director Dr. Sonny Trimble has worked hand in hand with the government for years, carefully cataloging artifacts for the Army Corps of Engineers. His skills as an archeologist have taken him from coast to coast and to missions in war-torn Iraq--research that brought him face to face with Saddam Hussein.

"We gathered all the forensic evidence that brought down Chemical Ali back in 2006," Dr. Trimble told News 12.

Now his focus has turned stateside, with a mission to employ some of America's wounded warriors. Stimulus money has allowed for the development of a program that puts veterans to work with cataloging and processing some of the nation's precious artifacts. Dr. Trimble has turned to Augusta's vets to get it started.

"The idea is to have this stuff rehoused, have the materials rehoused, and then have the veterans do that, and pick up some job skills that they can use in the public sector when they go out looking for a job."

Dr. Trimble says he hopes to employ local disabled veterans with the help of the CSRA Wounded Warrior Care Project.

"It benefits the American people because we get our stuff curated and categorized and sorted, and we'll know what we have in the way of artifacts," said Wounded Warrior Care Project director Laurie Ott. "And really significantly, it'll give training and employment to folks who come back from Iraq and Afghanistan, which we think is a huge part of their recovery."

The plan is to have veterans working in a comfortable office space off Washington Road, earning a salary, and helping to shape American history.

Soldiers and disabled veterans in this area who are interested in this program should get in touch with the OEF/OIF Pgraom Director at 706-733-0188 Ext. 7382.

Dr. Trimble says this will be about a 14-month trial program, and if it's successful, the government hopes to be able to expand it in several areas. There will be three locations across the country, with the very first right here in Augusta.

The program kicks off here in October on Washington Road in Martinez.